Car crash causes mass blackout

Residents and businesses from South Sound to East End lost power for more than an hour Thursday night after a truck smashed into a transmission pole on Sparkys Drive.

Police said the gold Ford Ranger truck ploughed through the fence at the Caribbean Utilities Company site and hit the transmission pole inside the premises after the driver lost control of the vehicle and rear-ended another car, a silver Honda Integra.

Both vehicles had been travelling south along Sparkys Drive, coming from the go-kart race track, police said.

According to CUC, the crash caused a power outage that lasted from 9.08pm until 10.15pm and affected a wide area of the island from South Sound to East End and also Camana Bay.

“CUC’s crews responded immediately and worked quickly to restore power in a safe and reliable manner. CUC apologises for any inconvenience the outage may have caused,” said Pat Bynoe-Clarke, the utility company’s manager of corporate communications.

Police said the 911 emergency centre received a call of a two-vehicle collision on Sparkys Drive at 9.09pm. “The caller stated that one of the vehicles had crashed into the Caribbean Utilities Company’s fence and the power instantly went out,” a police statement said.

Fire Services freed two people who were trapped in the truck. The driver and passenger of the truck were taken by ambulance to hospital as both had suffered minor cuts and bruises. No-one in the Honda was injured.

Police said they were investigating the incident.

Lightning knocks out cable

Also on Thursday night, a lightning strike at the TV Centre caused a power surge that damaged several of the WestStar’s satellite antennas.

After receiving complaints from customers that several cable channels had dropped, WestStar engineers went to the TV Centre in George Town to check the damage.

“Unfortunately, it is not safe to work on the damaged satellites during a lightning storm”, said head WestStar engineer Charles Stone. After the storm passed, the crew repaired most of the channels, except for channels 12, 21, 24, 27 and 115.

The company said its engineers were working to restore all connections as soon as possible.

The pick-up truck, which has a lightning design on its side, smashed through a fence and hit a transmission pole, causing a widespread power outage.